


Half of Humanity

by Awesome_Sauce432



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath, Angst, Gen, Infinity War spoilers, Mourning, Nebula will get shit done, Other, Plotting, Post-Infinity War, Recovery, Will add additional characters as they show up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 03:33:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14440557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awesome_Sauce432/pseuds/Awesome_Sauce432
Summary: Post-Infinity War: SPOILERS LITERALLY SO MANY SPOILERS-----------In the space of a few minutes, the population of the universe was halved. Those who remain are left to pick up the pieces.





	1. Shuri

Shuri woke up to the sounds of crying. Her ears rang, her head throbbing from when she had hit it on the ground after being thrown back by… whatever that thing had been. She staggered to her feet, trying to look around. How long had she blacked out for? What had happened to Vision?

There was no sign of the robot, the magnificent - if still crude - machine/person. AI had always been fascinating to her, and if they hadn’t been facing imminent extinction she would have loved to talk with Vision more. But there was no sign of him, nothing except for the huge broken window in front of her. Glancing around, she noticed that her guard had disappeared as well, which was definitely wrong. Where would he have gone?

An uneasiness settled into her gut, not helped by the distant and muffled screams and shouts. The monsters seemed to be retreating, a sea of ugly blue-grey shapes swarming towards their huge ships in the distance. Surely that meant they had won, right? They were being beaten back? If so, where was Vision?

“Brother? What’s going on?” 

There was no response, and now Shuri was one hundred percent alert. There was _never_ no response. Not unless communications were down - which couldn’t happen because she’d designed the damn things to eliminate that risk - or he purposefully wasn’t answering her - which didn’t make sense if the battle was over. Something had happened, or was still happening. She had to find out. 

“Brother, if you’re ignoring me I swear I’m going to kill you.” She muttered, before quickly changing her frequency. “Okoye?”

“Shuri!” Okoye’s voice came through loud and clear, further eliminating the possibility of communications being down. Her voice was full of relief, which set her on edge even more. “Where are you?”

“Still up in the palace. What’s happening? Vision's gone and T’Challa isn’t answering me.”

For a moment, there was a deep, painful silence. 

“Vision is dead.” Okoye finally spoke. Shuri cursed, but at the same time, frowned. She didn't like that pause. 

“How? By the witch or-“

“Thanos. He gained all of the Infinity Stones.” 

 Oh. Oh no. Shuri had gotten a very brief explanation of what all of the Infinity Stones were and why it was so important that Thanos not get the one stuck to Vision’s forehead. She’d been slightly more focused on how the Infinity Stone worked and figuring out how to remove it at the time, but she hadn’t missed the ‘if we fail, half of the universe will be killed’ part. 

 If Thanos had _succeeded_ , then that meant-

The screaming and crying she could hear suddenly took on a new and awful tone. They were the sounds of grief. All at once, it clicked in her brain. _T’Challa wasn’t answering her._

Almost as if he no longer had any communications anymore. But since he was wearing his suit, that wasn’t possible. 

“Then T’Cha-“ She didn’t even finish the question, the implications hitting her like a ton of bricks. No way. This couldn’t be happening, not again. She’d barely gotten over the last time she thought her brother was dead. Maybe he was just unconscious. Maybe Thanos had just knocked him unconscious and Okoye just hadn’t found him yet. 

Okoye was silent, but Shuri was certain she was still there, listening. Waiting. 

“Tell me he fell over another waterfall.” Was all her frozen brain could come up with. 

 “Shuri, I’m sorry.” 

Her knees buckled beneath her, and Shuri stared outside as spaceships began to lift off into the air. The door burst open behind her, two Dora Milaje called out for her. The relief was plain in their voices when they saw her, quickly approaching and one of them kneeling down to ensure she was uninjured. They helped her to her feet, telling her they needed to get her to safety. That didn’t seem necessary to Shuri anymore - the battle was over, and they had _lost_ , but she let them lead her away from the shattered window anyway. Okoye told her she was heading back to the palace immediately, but Shuri barely heard her.

Half of all life. Gone. She supposed that explained where her bodyguard had disappeared to. 

Vision was dead. Her brother was _gone_. Dead. Who else? Who else was now dead? 

“Where is my mother?” She asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer. 

“She will be meeting us in the throne room, she is alright.” One of the Dora Milaje said. Shuri let out a shuddering breath, nodding her head. Mother was alive. 

But what would happen now?

 

* * *

 

Things were chaos by the time Okoye arrived at the palace, the remainders of the Avengers and remnants of Wakanda’s army in tow. The tribal council - who had been assembled in the council room - was decimated, with only M’Baku and Zohra, elder of the Merchant Tribe, remaining. Dora Milaje and other soldiers had already been sent scrambling to find heirs to the other tribes, while the others were deployed to the rest of the city to keep everyone calm, though Shuri doubted it would be very effective. 

The Avengers - along with some strange little talking racoon that _definitely_ hadn’t been among them when Shuri first met them - took a plane to go back to wherever they were going. The whole world was going through this, not just Wakanda. Shuri couldn’t help but think that maybe if they hadn’t come at all, things would be alright. Everyone would still be alive. But she knew that wasn’t true. 

For now, their only goal was to try and get their bearings. Take stock of what they had lost, what they had left. Only then could they move forward. But Wakanda had never had to deal with a devastation like this. Normal protocol had been thrown out of the window, landing somewhere a few continents over. There was no time for the proper ceremonies and rituals. There was only chaos, a dead King, and Shuri. Next in line. 

It was a quick coronation, presided over by the first priest they found and witnessed by her mother, M’Baku, Zohra, Okoye, and the few other high-ranking soldiers and officials that remained. There was no Heart-Shaped Herb to give her, no rituals they could go through now. Just like that, Shuri was Queen, and it didn’t even feel real. 

But it was. This was real, this was happening, and now it was her responsibility to try and make it better, to help her people. So she took a deep breath, shoved all of her thoughts of her brother to the back of her mind, and sat down on the throne in front of the council that was now populated by M’Baku, Zohra, Nakia, another serious looking adult and a teen who looked just as lost and ready to cry as she felt. 

“We need to find out exactly who has vanished. How many people, which tribe they belonged to.” She started off. Half of all humanity gave them a good starting point, but it wasn’t enough. There was no way to tell if exactly half of their country’s people had vanished, or if it was more or less than that. Even then, what if all of the mining tribe had vanished, while only a small portion of the river tribe? There were just too many uncertainties. 

“There will now be children without parents, we must ensure they are found and cared for.” Zohra said, her face steeled with resolve. Shuri nodded, inwardly wincing at the thought of children now left alone in homes, unaware of what had happened. 

“We can open up the palace, bring unattended children there. If their parents can come and collect them, they will know where to go, and if not, we can house them here for as long as needed.” Shuri said. 

“The Jabari tribe can care for our own children.” M’Baku said, grumbling slightly. 

“There are likely few, if any Jabari children outside of the mountains anyway.” Nakia said, sitting tall in the seat that had been occupied by her father just hours ago. While the Jabari tribe was now technically no longer in their mostly self-imposed exile from the rest of Wakanda, most still seemed content in the mountains for now. 

“All elders are ultimately responsible for the people of their tribe.” Mother said, standing next to the throne. Shuri was immensely thankful for her presence, half because she didn’t want to leave her sight ever again, and half because she knew politics. 

“Housing them in the castle will hopefully be a temporary fix, until better solutions are found.” It was hard to try and speak in the formal ways of the council, when Shuri was so used to being as casual as she pleased. But in a time like this, it just didn’t feel right. Not like she felt in the mood for any jokes anyway. 

The rest of the hastily put together council proceeded in much the same way. M’Baku, Zohra and Nakia tended to lead most of it, with Shuri doing her best to keep up and seem like the proper leader she knew her country needed right now. N’Leno, the closest heir to the mining tribe that they could find, was very solemn, spending most of his time sitting silently and ocassionally pointing out problems or issues in some ideas. Roki, a boy who seemed a few years older than her, was the oldest remaining child the Border Tribe’s elder they could locate, and he seemed out of his depth and afraid, but doing his best to stay calm. 

But by the end of it, they had a plan. Well, it wasn’t so much a plan but a system to stop their country from collapsing any further than it already had without half of their population, but it was something. The question of what to do next hung over all of their heads, but they didn’t even try to answer it yet. Not yet. 

Shuri dismissed the council, all of the elders - newly appointed or not - eager to investigate what was left of their respective tribes and begin recovery. Shuri feels like she should join them. Go out and try and help people. That’s what a good Queen would do, that’s what T’Challa would do. 

But damnit, she’s not T’Challa. No one is. So instead she waits until everyone Okoye, a small handful of other Dora Milaje and her mother are left in the room before jumping off of the throne like it had burned her. And she takes one look at her mother, who has been standing and talking with her head held high and her gaze only trembling whenever no one was looking. She made eye contact with her mother, and then neither of them can do anything but cry. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI I AM DEAD  
> In all seriousness though, I saw Infinity War yesterday and my life is now ended. But my only question was: IS SHURI ALIVE  
> In my mind, yes she is. And now her brother's dead. Again. (:
> 
> I'm thinking of doing more chapters with the other Still-Alive Characters but who knows. As far as I'm concerned though, if they weren't shown dying, they're alive (unless I don't really like them)


	2. May

She clicked on Peter’s contact name on her phone for the hundredth time, holding it up to her ears. A feminine, robotic voice greeted her.

_Sorry, the person you are calling is unavailable. Please leave a-_

May hung up, biting back the sob in her throat and calling the number again.

_Sorry, the person you are calling is unavai-_

Again.

_Sorry, the person you are ca-_

_Sorry, the person you-_

_Sorry, the per-_

_Sorry, t-_

_Sorry-_

_Sor-_

_S-_

This couldn’t be happening. His phone had to have died. She glanced upwards, her eyes falling on the televisions coverage on how many world leaders and celebrities were reported missing, before turning it off. She didn’t care how many presidents were gone. She only cared about one person. He couldn’t be gone. 

“Come on, Peter-please!” She pushed his number again, only to hear the same terrible voicemail message.

There was a panicked knock on her door, followed by a muffled voice. 

“May? May-it’s Ned-“ May clambered to her feet, wiping away the tears that stained her cheeks. Standing on the doorstep was Ned, panting and looking like he’d spinted half a mile. A small part of May was glad to see him, to know that one of Peter’s friends was alright, but the greater part of her was far more concerned with _why_ he was here. Why Peter wasn’t with him, since they’d been on a field trip together.

“Ned, what’s happened? Where’s Peter?” She asked, fully aware that she probably sounded hysterical. Ned flinched, stammering and doing everything he could to avoid her gaze, or answer her question. She suddenly noticed that Ned’s cheeks were stained with tears along with sweat. 

May’s heart sunk, and she leaned against the wall, feeling her eyes well up. No. Not Peter. He was her only family left. He couldn’t- 

“No-wait! He’s okay! I-I think-“ Ned’s shoulders were heaving, and he stepped inside, holding up a hand as if to comfort her but hesitating. 

“He’s-he’s okay? He’s alive?” May didn’t know what to think.

“Yeah! I mean-uh-“

“Ned- what do you mean? I don’t understand!” Ned just stared at her like a deer caught in the headlights, and May took a deep breath, peeling herself from the wall and sitting back down on the couch, holding her head in her hands and trying to think whether she really wanted to know. She could just call Peter’s phone again. Maybe he’d pick up this time. 

“Ned-please. What happened to Peter?” Ned opened and closed his mouth multiple times, wringing his hands together before finally blurting out what he had been trying to say.

“He’s Spiderman!” 

May’s world stopped cold.

“What?” 

Ned just nodded, grimacing before starting to talk again, now at a speed she could barely keep up with.

“It was meant to be a secret but then that ship showed up so he went to go fight it and I don’t know what happened after that but I saw a picture of him hanging onto the spaceship when it went up into space so I was thinking maybe he’s in space and he’s okay but-“

May’s eyes were wide, her heart feeling like it had stopped beating. Her nephew, Spiderman? It was impossible. But why would Ned claim this? He wasn’t above jokes, but not at a time like this. He would never do something like that to anyone. But if Peter were Spiderman-

Wait, in _space?_

“He’s in space?”

“I don’t know! Maybe! But if he is- maybe he’s alright! Maybe he didn’t get caught up in this-this-“ Ned couldn’t seem to finish his sentence, suddenly getting choked up. 

“Hey-Ned, Ned, sit down. What about your parents? Have you called them?” May took one of Ned’s hands, squeezing it tight even as more tears slipped out of her eyes. Ned nodded.

“T-they were both at work. I called them. My dad’s alright- he’s trying to get home but there’s crashed cars everywhere and blocked roads- but my-mom’s not picking up-and I-I thought you needed to know.“

“I-I don’t care _who_ he is, I just want to know he’s okay.” 

“I don’t know.” Ned said, before breaking down entirely. “I don’t know if he’s okay! Or my mom! Or anyone-” 

May pulled Ned in close, hugging him tight and letting her tears flow freely. If Peter were in space, maybe he was alright. But that put him squarely in the hands of the aliens who probably did this to begin with, and that was unacceptable. No matter what the scenario was, she just wanted her nephew home. She had promised to protect him, and now it turned out he’d been putting himself in danger? For how long?

Finally, after both of them had long since stopped crying, for Peter, for themselves, for the world, Ned peeled himself away and stood up wiping his eyes and saying he needed to get home before his dad arrived. May just nodded, telling him to be safe and offering him some food before he left. 

After he was gone, she brought up her laptop, looking for the last known sightings of Spiderman. She saw a blurry video of a huge ring-shaped spacecraft, the same one May had seen earlier that day, halfway across the city and seemingly retreating. In the video she watched a blue beam pulling up someone, and then, someone else swinging into frame and trying to stop it before getting pulled up himself. The video ended abruptly, and May’s shoulders began to shake. 

Why Peter. Why did it have to be him.

Even though she knew it was pointless, she picked up her phone and called him one more time.

_Sorry, the person you are calling is unavailable._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi just thinking about Peter Parker in Infinity War is devastating


	3. Nebula

He had done it. Despite everything, he had done it. Despite the pain she had suffered through, the lengths she had gone to, the people she had killed. Despite everything, he had done it. 

Thanos had killed half the people of the universe, and he couldn’t even have been bothered to make her one of them. Of course.

Nebula’s body felt frozen, even though she had known. The second Thanos had escaped them, after their attempt to remove the gauntlet failed, she knew it was over. Whatever meagre defences they had on Earth wouldn’t be enough. Never enough. She wouldn't make it to Earth in time to try and kill him again. All she could do was stand and wait for the end to come. But when it did, it didn’t come for her.

She almost wished it had. 

She’d watched the Guardians and earthlings fall, disintegrate into dust one by one. None of them screamed or cried like she’d partly expected them to. The sorcerer seemed to know it was coming. He had the same distant, cursed look in his eyes that Nebula saw whenever she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror. It was a look of knowledge that one wasn’t meant to have. The sorcerer had said he’d gone through millions of possibilities. He knew what would happen to him. Perhaps he had even experienced it, who knows how his powers work. Or worked. 

The sorcerer knew what was coming. The aliens seemed too surprised to do anything about it. Perhaps too shocked at their own failure, too slow to realise how their luck had run out. But the boy… Nebula almost felt sorry for him, but she’d experienced too much suffering and heartbreak for it to tug at her heartstrings. Or perhaps the fact that she no longer had an organic heart had something to do with it. 

Still, she just stood there and watch, waiting for the last one, the Iron Man, to disappear as well. Because that would be just what would happen, wouldn’t it. Everyone else around her would finally get the release of death, but not her. Never her. Thanos would only ever keep her alive, just in case he felt like torturing her some more at a later date. 

But instead, the Iron Man stuck around. He sat on the ground, his hands shaking and his shoulders shuddering. He ran his fingers through his hair, staring at the space where the boy had disappeared into nothingness just minutes before. 

Nebula gritted her teeth together, looking around at the devastated landscape. There was nothing left for her here. There was nothing left for her in the rest of the universe either, but it was still better than staying on this dead planet. If she were lucky - and she rarely was - she’d be able to figure out a way to get off it. Perhaps there was a still-working escape pod on Thanos’ ship that the Iron Man and his now deceased friends had crashed. 

She pivoted on her heel and began walking towards the giant wreck, distantly wondering where she would even go if she found a working ship. Thanos had won, Gamora was dead, and her quest to defeat him had utterly failed. She had nothing else.

As she walked away, she heard the sound of sobs, and fists banging into the earth. She hesitated for only a moment, before continuing to walk. There was nothing she could do for him anyway. 

The ship had been badly damaged in the crash, and basically eviscerated in the battle with Thanos that had followed. But significant enough chunks of it were still intact to give some hope that a functional ship or escape pod might be around. She climbed up into the closest chunk, wrenching apart metal to get inside. The ship smelled of smoke, sparks flying from panels and unsettling creaking echoing throughout the wreck. 

She could try to seek out Thanos. By this point, it was suicide to try and kill him. But it had always been close to suicide before as well. Ultimately, what had changed? She had never tried to kill Thanos to save the universe, or for justice or peace or whatever those idiotic heroes had been fighting for. She had wanted to kill Thanos for pure, cold-hearted revenge. Revenge for everything he had ever done to her. 

So what had changed? Nothing. 

The first thing that half-way resembled an escape pod or small ship was mangled beyong all recognition or hope for recovery. With a scowl, she moved on. 

Half the universe was dead now, but she was still here. 

The second ship was just as destroyed. Along with the third, fourth, fifth. She stopped counting after that.

Gamora was dead, but Nebula was still here. 

Her hands curled into fists as she stalked through the wreckage, fire starting to ignite in her bones once again. 

Thanos had won, but she was still here. 

She found a ship that wasn’t completely destroyed. But when she tried to operate it, there was nothing. Unfortunately, she was no mechanic. 

She had nothing else in this universe. For so long her life had been hell, and the only thing that had kept her going was the determination that someday, _someday_ she’d be the one to separate Thanos’ head from his shoulders. She’d plunge the blade into his heart. She’d watch him die.

The next ship she tried sputtered, before collapsing into uselessness with a pathetic sounding wheeze of the engines.

Then perhaps she would be able to take her last breath in peace. 

She climbed into one more ship, squeezing into the cramped cockpit and running her hand along the dashboard. She’d seen enough to Thanos’ ships to know how to turn one on, running through the start-up sequence like it was automatic. The machines began to hum to life, lights brightening up and displays starting to appear. Nebula allowed herself a tiny satisfied smile, continuing to start up the ship. 

The ship launched out of the wreckage like a rocket at an awkward angle, Nebula quickly piloting the ship until it was the right way around whilst trying to avoid the debris that was absolutely everywhere. She surveyed the sky, pulling up the ships navigation system before pausing. Even if she had a goal, there was still no way to know where Thanos was now. Not to mention that just by herself she would undoubtedly be pulverised before she could get close. Or even worse, Thanos would make her think she’d succeed before pulling the rug out from underneath her through the Reality Stone. 

She scowled once again. Going for it alone had only gotten her captured and tortured by Thanos, which had then led Gamora to giving up the location of the Soul Stone. Nebula wasn’t going to make a mistake like that again. Which sadly meant that she would most likely need allies. 

She turned the ship around, landing almost directly on top of the Iron Man. He was in the same place as she’d left him, but was now standing up, pacing in a small circle and rapping his fingers against the side of his head. He stepped backwards when Nebula landed, stiffening before relaxing lightly when she opened up the cockpit. 

“We’re going to Earth.” She said bluntly. As disastrous as their attempt to remove Thanos’ gauntlet had been, they had still _nearly_ done it. If not for that idiot Quill...

If more ‘heroes’ with those kinds of strengths and abilities were on Earth - and still alive - Nebula wanted to utilise them. 

She’d find Thanos once more. Either she killed him, or she died trying. 

There was nothing else left in the universe for her to do. 


End file.
